Japan pensions cut domestic stock holdings -survey

TOKYO, April 21 (Reuters) - Japanese corporate pension funds have been cutting their domestic stock holdings and buying more domestic bonds to avoid risky bets amid financial turmoil, a JP Morgan Asset Management survey showed on Tuesday.

Pension funds on average lost about 18.4 percent on their investments in the financial year that ended in March, the survey of 75 funds showed.

The Japanese money management arm of U.S. bank JP Morgan (JPM.N) surveyed 79 pension funds from mid-March to early April, of whom 75 replied.

The funds on average had 19.7 percent of their investment money in domestic shares at the start of the financial year this month, down from 23.5 percent last year, the survey showed.

Pension funds held 32.2 percent of that money in domestic bonds in April, up from 30.1 percent last year.

Their holdings of foreign bonds inched up to 10 percent in April from 9.9 percent last year, while their holdings of foreign stocks dropped to 14.1 percent from 17.2 percent.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei share average .N225 fell about 42 percent in 2008, the biggest loss in its 58-year history. (Reporting by Chikafumi Hodo; Editing by Hugh Lawson)